STAMP STORY

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 10

STAMP STORY

FREEDOM STAMP by Kenneth Anthony ONE of the most interesting aspects of modern stamp-collecting is the effects on stamps .of the emergence of so many new and independent nations within the last few years. While talks were going on in London bn the new constitution for Kenya, for example, arrangements were being completed for the production of a special Uhuru (Freedom) stamp issue which was duly released on Independence Day, December 12, 1963. Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta personally approved the proof .of the 30c value, which bears .his portrait, at a ■ short ceremony held in his hotel during bis visit to London. As the illustration shows, the design depicts him facing Mount Kenya, the country’s highest mountain, though he is not in fact named on the stamp. This independence issue marks the end of 75 years of British rule, which was originally introduced into Kenya to suppress the slave trade carried on by Arabs on the coast until well towards the end of ’ the . nineteenth century. Yet despite the sig-

nificance of the occasion all the new stamp designs are the work of an Englishman, and the stamps are produced by British, printers.. Another curious feature of the issue is that-it marks the first, time toe name of Kenya alone has ever appeared on stamps. .In the last century this large area of almost 225,000 square miles, gained the nickname of Tbea (from, the initials .of the Imperial British East Africa Company). Then it was known as British East Africa, then as part of the East Africa and Uganda protectorate. The name Kenya did not make' its first appearance on stamps until 1922, and then only in conjunction with that Of Uganda, and from 1935 with that of Tanganyika also.